page_title: Thomas Morton (playwright)
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas Morton (playwright) / Life
caption_attribution_description: English: Advertisement for the programme at the Theatre Royal, Jersey: 27 July 1822 - Fate of Calas; School for Scandal
context_page_description: Thomas Morton was an English playwright.
context_section_description: Morton was born in the city of Durham. He was the youngest son of John and Grace Morton of Whickham, County Durham.
  After the death of his father he was educated at Soho Square school at the charge of his uncle Maddison, a stockbroker. Here amateur acting was in vogue, and Morton, who played with Joseph George Holman, acquired a taste for the theatre. He entered at Lincoln's Inn, 2 July 1784, but was not called to the bar.
  His first drama, Columbus, or A World Discovered, 8vo, 1792, an historical play in five acts, founded in part upon Les Incas of Marmontel, was produced with success at Covent Garden, 1 December 1792, Holman playing the part of Alonzo. Children in the Wood, a two-act musical entertainment, Dublin, 12mo, 1794 (a pirated edition), followed at the Haymarket 1 October 1793. It was well acted by Richard Suett, John Bannister and Miss De Camp, and was more than once revived. Similar fortune attended Zorinski, 8vo, 1795, a three-act play founded on the adventures of Stanislaus, renamed Casimir, King of Poland, Haymarket, 20 June 1795. In the same year appeared an anonymous pamphlet, Mr, Morton's "Zorinski" and Brooke's "Gustavus Vasa" Compared. 
  The Way to get Married, 8vo, 1796, a comedy in five acts, with serious situations, was produced at Covent Garden 23 January 1796, acted forty-one times, and became a stock piece. It supplied Munden with his favourite character of Caustic. A Cure for the Heart-Ache, a five-act comedy, 8vo, 1797, Covent Garden, 10 January 1797, furnished two excellent characters in Old and Young Rapid, and became also, with few other claims on attention, a stock play. Secrets worth Knowing, a five-act comedy, 8vo, 1798, Covent Garden 11 January 1798, though a better play than the preceding, was less popular.
  Speed the Plough, a five-act comedy, 8vo, 1798, Covent Garden, 8 Feb. 1798, was acted forty-one times, and often revived. The Blind Girl, or a Receipt for Beauty, a comic opera in three acts (songs only printed), Covent Garden, 22 April 1801, was played eight times. Beggar my Neighbour, or a Rogue's a Fool, a comedy in three acts (unprinted), Haymarket, 10 July 1802, was assigned to Morton but unclaimed by him, being damned the first night. It was afterwards converted into How to tease and how to please. Covent Garden, 29 March 1810, experienced very little better fortune, and remained unprinted. Part of the plot of Beggar my Neighbour is said to have been taken from August Wilhelm Iffland. The School of Reform, or How to rule a Husband, 8vo, 1805, a five-act comedy, was played with remarkable success at Covent Garden, 15 January 1805, and was revived so late as 20 November 1867 at the St. James's, with Mr. John S. Clarke as Tyke and Mr. Irving as Ferment. Tyke was the greatest part of John Emery.
  Town and Country, or which is best ? 8vo, 1807, a comedy in five acts, was given at Covent Garden 10 March 1807, with John Kemble as Reuben Glenroy and Charles Kemble as Plastic. For this piece Harris is said to have paid £1,000 whether it succeeded or failed. The Knight of Snowdoun, London, 1811, a musical drama in three acts, founded on The Lady of the Lake, saw the light at Covent Garden 5 February 1811. Education, 8vo, 1813, a five-act comedy, Covent Garden, 27 April 1813, is taken in part from Iffland. In The Slave, 8vo, 1816, Covent Garden, 12 Nov. 1816, a musical drama in three acts, Macready played Gambia, the slave. A Roland for an Oliver, 8vo, 1819, produced at Covent Garden 29 April 1819, was a two-act musical farce. In Henri Quatre, or Paris in the Olden Time, 8vo, 1820, Covent Garden, 22 April 1820, a musical romance in three acts, Macready was Henri. At the same theatre appeared School for Grown Children (8vo, 1827), on 9 January 1827, and The Invincibles, 28 February 1828, a musical farce in two acts, included in Cumberland's collection.
  With his second son, John Maddison Morton, he was associated in the Writing on the Wall, a three-act melodrama, produced at the Haymarket, and it is said in All that Glitters is not Gold, a two-act comic drama first played at the Olympic on 1
caption: An 1822 advertisement for a performance in Jersey of Town and Country, or Which Is Best?
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A2100 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2013:08:05 11:07:21", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "240", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3910", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:08:05 11:07:21", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:08:05 11:07:21", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "189/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "32/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1583", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2827", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3000", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "4000", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3228", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1500000/91", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "4000000/243", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}